Vancouver — Junior explorer
The 153-sq.-km property is 75 km south of Kugluktuk (formerly Coppermine), a small town on the Arctic coast. The exploration licence lies just off the northern end of the exposed part of the Muskox ultramafic-mafic layered intrusive complex.
The property is accessible by helicopter or float plain from Yellowknife or Kugluktuk, and is situated in rolling terrain near the tree line boundary. Elevation ranges from 205 to 563 metres above sea level.
PGM Holdings, a private syndicate, has granted Trilogy an option to earn up to a 70% interest in the property. To do so, Trilogy must pay the owners $300,000, issue 5,554,093 shares in stages over three years, and spend $5 million on the property.
Beginning in July, Trilogy will embark on a 2-phase drill program. The first phase will entail collaring a deep diamond drill hole on the southernmost of two distinct ovoid-shaped gravity anomalies. Situated in the southwestern portion of the property, these anomalies are thought to represent funnel-like intrusive centres or magma chambers. They are proximal to an exposed portion of the layered complex, which contains sulphide-rich mineralization and associated anomalous PGM values.
The vertical hole will attempt to drill though the entire intrusion from the roof zone to the keel at the base of the sequence. The hole will target two types of deposits: stratigraphic targets, such as chromitite reefs and peridotite layers, below the reefs; and deeper, magmatic sulphide accumulations containing nickel, copper and PGM mineralization.
Based on geological and geophysical data, Trilogy estimates that the depth of the upper chromitite reef or reefs will be 350-400 metres down-hole. The potential magmatic sulphide body is believed to exist at a depth of 1,650-2,000 metres. Second-stage drill locations and depths will be contingent on the results of the first stage.
To define drill targets further, Trilogy will also perform a grid-based gravity, magnetometer and geological mapping survey over the north ovoid gravity anomaly.
Geology
The Muskox intrusion was emplaced 1.3 billion years ago along the western edge of the Archean-aged Slave craton into mid-Proterozoic, shallow-to-deep water sediments. After emplacement, the complex was tilted 3-8 to the north. The southern exposed part of the intrusion is 120 km long and trends in a north-south direction. The intrusion then dives under a blanket of volcanics. Gravity surveys indicate that it extends for at least an additional 250 km to the north.
The exposed section of the intrusion is 11 km wide in the north and narrows southward into a long vertical dyke or tail zone.
The narrow keel dyke at the southern end of the intrusion widens out into a layered complex that consists of 42 cumulate layers of 18 rock types. These have been subdivided into at least 25 cyclic stratigraphic units that are thought to represent separate magma pulses. The general rock sequence ranges from dunite at the base of the sequence to peridotite, pyroxenite, gabbro and eventually granophyric gabbro in the roof zone.
The region surrounding the Muskox intrusion has undergone at least three deformation phases. The dominant fault trends can be traced to the northwest and northeast. The two most prominent faults are the northwest-trending Sinister fault and the north-northwest-trending Canoe Lake scissors fault.
History
In 1956, a geologist from Canadian Nickel Co. noticed the prominent gossanous rim of the intrusion while flying over it, and the company subsequently drilled 50 shallow drill holes into the sulphide occurrences. The intrusion was first mapped in detail by the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) in the late 1950s. In 1963, the GSC put down three deep diamond drill holes into the layered complex and confirmed the lateral extent of the intrusion, as well as the fact that it was formed from at least 25 separate magma pulses.
Once the similarity to the Bushveld complex of South Africa was established, exploration for platinum group metals began in earnest. Until recently the most comprehensive exploration program was performed by Equinox Resources, now a wholly owned subsidiary of
As a result of the jump in platinum and palladium prices over recent years, several companies have decided to take a closer look at the Muskox intrusion. In 1998,
PGM Holdings entered the scene in early 2000 and staked the eastern footwall margin and a two gravity anomalies that were under a thin cover of the overlying volcanics. Last summer, PGM Holdings performed a geophysics and mapping program over the southernmost anomaly and surrounding area, and then optioned the property to Trilogy.
There are no historic mines in the claim area, but the region is known for its small showings of native copper. Some of these were exploited by aboriginal peoples prior to the first arrival of European settlers in Canada.
Following the discovery of the Muskox intrusion, several gossans were explored. These were situated along the contact zone. Massive sulphide pods related to the gossans were found to be rich in nickel, copper and PGMs, though they were too small to be economic. Some spectacular assays resulted from some of these massive sulphide zones. One Canadian Nickel Co. drill hole intersected 1.13 metres grading 17.74 grams palladium and 3.2 grams platinum per tonne, plus 9.3% copper, 3.46% nickel and 3.39 grams gold per tonne. Equinox reported a massive sulphide rock sample that assayed 84.4 grams palladium, 7.98 grams platinum, 10.4% copper, 0.76% nickel and 2.72 grams gold. An Equinox trench sample yielded a 35-cm section that assayed an astounding 148.77 grams palladium, 9.86 grams platinum and 6.47 grams gold.
Two chromitite seams were also discovered at the northern end of the exposed intrusion. These seams resemble the Merensky and UG2 reefs of the Bushveld complex in South Africa and have been sampled by Equinox Resources and, more recently, by Muskox Minerals. Results revealed that the eastern side of the reefs contain values in excess of 1 gram PGMs plus gold; however, economic concentrations have not yet been discovered. Trilogy believes potential economic mineralization lies closer to the centre of the intrusion.
Trilogy has 23 million shares fully diluted.
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